(rock music)
(cheers and applause)
- Welcome to Hall H's day two of Comic Con.
Oh my gosh.
It's so much good stuff.
- [Woman] We love you, Chris!
- I love you, too!
(audience laughs)
Welcome to The Walking Dead panel,
which is technically The Talking Dead panel
if you want to be technical about it.
(audience cheers)
So just a couple of announcements.
First of all, the season six premiere
is the largest episode to date.
654 walker extras used during shooting,
second only to the pilot.
And you can see the episode of season six
when it premieres,
Sunday, October 11th at 9 p.m.
(audience cheers)
I want to point out this will be a 90 minute premiere.
(audience cheers) So, yes.
And then Talking Dead will be on at 10:30
right after that.
Also, we're gonna do a Talking Dead
season six preview special hosted by me
on Sunday, August 23rd at 8 p.m.,
during which we will give more exclusive first looks
at what's in store for the season.
Also, there's gonna be...
You can catch up on your seasons one through five
with "5 Sundays/5 Seasons" marathon.
Each Sunday, AMC will air a single season of the series
beginning Sunday, July 26th at 2:30 pm.,
so just cancel everything now.
Don't go anywhere.
Invite people over or board up your doors.
And that is through Sunday, August 23rd.
But most importantly,
I want to thank you guys,
because without the fans and the fandom,
first of all, my show wouldn't exist,
you all wouldn't be here,
I wouldn't be able to bring these people out here
and show this to you, so thank you so much
for supporting Walking Dead.
(audience applauds and cheers)
We wanted to change things up a little bit,
and so we pulled in a bunch of questions from social to ask.
So it's not just me blabbing up here.
I will be blabbing with your questions.
So I have some lists of those.
But first, let's just get into this.
I am very happy to show you the first look
at the official trailer for season six.
(audience applauds and cheers)
Your 2015 Walking Dead cast.
(audience applauds and cheers)
Take pictures.
So everyone please have a seat.
Let's get into this.
So Kirkman, as you know,
the poor man fell a bit ill,
and he was not able to attend Comic Con this year,
so he's now here in T-shirt form--
- [Greg Nicotero] Yeah, he's here.
- And mask form, yeah.
- [Scott Gimple] Yes, now, and hand me one of those.
- [Greg] He's actually here,
and any questions that come up--
- I kind of prefer these versions.
Can we just take these (laughs)?
Thank you very much.
- [Greg] Pass them on down.
- Everyone have one?
We should definitely throw one of these into the audience.
(audience cheers)
- [Scott] So, okay, before we get started, right?
Let's do this.
How big is Hall H?
- About 7,000.
- [Scott] 7,000 people.
(audience cheers)
Now it would be great...
Hello, Hall H.
(audience cheers)
It would be great to have the premiere somewhere
that could hold this many people.
- Right.
- [Scott] It would be even better
if we could hold it somewhere that would hold
twice as many people.
- [Chris] Right.
- [Scott] It would be thrice better,
if it could hold about
two and a half amount of this people.
- Where are you going with this math problem?
- [Scott] The Walking Dead premiere
is going to Madison Square Garden.
(audience applauds and cheers)
In October,
all these people can conceivably come if--
- [Gale Anne Hurd] With their friends and families.
- [Scott] With friends, family, loved ones, well wishers.
Go to www,
that's hhtp.
- Please do the whole URL, yeah.
- [Scott] Backslash, backslash.
- No, forward slash, forward slash.
- [Scott] Www, AMC.
- Backslash is for local files.
(Chris and audience laughs)
- [Scott] Amcthewalkingdead.com.
Come join us in New York in October
for the biggest premiere yet.
- Yes, amazing.
Thank you for this.
(audience cheers)
I think that section back there's like,
"Shit, we don't live in New York."
But you guys, this is amazing.
Madison Square Garden is about 20,000 people,
so that is the best way.
Cause even just seeing you guys react to the trailer,
and understand most of us watch this on computer screens.
So to see it in a room like this with a screen like this
with a crowd of everyone freaking out,
it's definitely an experience.
We really appreciate it.
So, I'm gonna launch into fan questions.
- [Scott] Before you do that, I just want Robert
to react to everybody watching it on a computer screen.
Waaaah!
(audience laughs)
Okay, sorry.
- I just want to react.
This is Robert reacting to anybody.
Waaaah!
All right, so let's get into this.
This is from R-vincap.
Will, this is for the producers.
Will season six explore a power struggle
between Rick and Morgan?
It kind of seemed like that from the trailer we saw.
Or will it more so be portrayed as a fundamental challenge
to the way Rick has always been leading the group?
- [Scott] Oh, my.
Well, it certainly seemed that we were
selling that in the trailer.
I will say that this is a savvy audience
that knows that we sometimes play
with the truth in trailers.
- Right.
- [Scott] What?
It's true.
But it's just to maintain the experience for everybody.
I would say that Rick
absolutely is faced with challenges
to the way he does things.
And also including these people
in the way that he does things.
At the end of season six,
he wanted everybody on board with him,
and everything went very well in those last few moments,
up until--
- Well, except for the dickhead that he shot.
- [Scott] Except for the porch dick.
- Yep (chuckles).
I'm so glad that became a thing.
- [Scott] Yeah, that's you.
- No, it's not me.
- [Scott] No, really.
- No, of course, it's not me.
- [Scott] No, no, it's you.
- Oh, I said it, but then that poor guy
has to live with that the rest of his life.
- [Scott] No, Corey Brill is not a porch dick.
He just plays one on TV.
- He did, you know, like a week afterwards I saw him,
and he was like, "By the way, thanks.
"People are shouting porch dick at me wherever I go."
(audience laughs)
And he's a really nice guy, too.
Which made that funnier.
But so you're saying that things might not be as they seem.
- [Scott] Things might not be as they seem,
but Rick absolutely has to deal with the fact
that things went down
with Reg and with Pete,
and all these people who might have been following him
into the bowels of hell are maybe looking at him
a little differently.
- All right, this question is from Kerry Frazier.
Will we get to see some more flashbacks
into character pasts?
I'd like to know more about some of them
like Glenn or Sasha.
Dave Alpert, do you want to take that one?
Do you know?
No? Okay.
You don't want to say anything?
Scott?
- [Scott] Could you repeat the question?
- Will we get to see more flashbacks
through other characters?
Glenn, Sasha?
- [Scott] There's a little bit of flashback,
but there's definitely some playing with time.
But not quite as much as last season.
- Okay.
Next question.
This is from idan25.
Will the wolves from season five finale
finally play a big part in season six?
- [Scott] The wolves will be a part of season six.
Hopefully in a way that you don't expect.
- All right. - [Scott] Chris.
- That's a good almost answer.
This one's for Andrew Lincoln.
- [Andrew Lincoln] Hi.
- Hi, Andy Lincoln, how are you?
(audience cheers) - Hello, Hall H.
Can I just say it's so lovely to see you all again.
Hello.
(audience cheers)
What are you doing in my front room?
(audience laughs)
- [Chris] It's crazy.
I can't believe another year
has gone by already and we're here.
It feels like we were just here.
- Oh, no, I've felt every single day.
(Chris laughs)
- [Chris] Well, this first question's a hardball here.
Dillion Huchy wants to know
do you think Rick misses the beard,
and do you miss having the beard?
- My wife doesn't miss the beard.
I think that was one of the most
weird filming days of my life when I had to shave.
Well, I had to get into a shower naked in front of my crew.
- You offered to get in the shower naked.
- But then apparently you could only see...
Was it two inches of my butt crack?
Is that right?
- [Scott] There was no crack.
- Charlie Collier confirmed it.
What are we allowed to say?
But yeah, I had to do that,
and then I had to shave and look in a mirror.
The most painful part was actually
looking at my face while shaving,
cause I don't enjoy that experience anyway.
But to do it on camera was just unbearable.
But yeah, I miss that beard.
And I'm gonna grow it back as soon as possible,
Scott Gimple.
- [Chris] How much does having that beard
become sort of a prop for the character?
Like when you have the beard,
does it inform the way you approach the character
as opposed to when you shave off the beard?
- Well, Steven Yeun looked at me when I shaved it off.
He said, "You look like you have a shrunken head."
(everyone laughs)
Which kind of unnerved me for the afternoon filming, really.
It does.
It became part of him, you know.
And also, I remember some two seasons before
Scott actually talking to me and just saying
we want to get these guys to the lowest ebb.
And I thought well a great way of doing that
is seeing how big I can bushy up and grow my beard.
- [Chris] Nice.
- Just like Scott Gimple right now.
- [Scott] I'm working on it.
- [Chris] This is so adorable.
- [Scott] Yeah, that's exactly what...
You know what, somewhere,
you just touched my cheek like that.
Robert Kirkman's smiling.
(Chris laughs)
That's usually his job.
I will say that the beard both in the comic and the show
really is sort of a metric of where Rick is at.
- [Chris] Right.
- [Scott] And when Rick shaved the beard
when he went to Alexandria I mean we,
in the comic, we completely mirrored that,
and it was in a mirror.
(audience laughs)
I can't believe people laughed at that.
Thank you.
I love you.
But I will say that the beard will continue to inform
and sort of indicate.
It's a barometer of where Rick is at.
- Right.
This is this man's Twitter name: @duhfatguy.
(audience laughs)
Wants to know...
It's is Twitter name: duhfatguy.
What's the dynamic gonna be like
between Rick and Deanna this season?
Obviously the last moment was very impactful,
so where are they at this point that you can say?
- Rick? - [Chris] And Deanna.
- He's covered in blood at this point.
- Right.
- Yeah, I think that there's a genuine respect
between the two leaders.
Between Deanna and Rick.
And a lot of the last sort of three or four episodes
you saw a man restraining his instinct to lead
and to show these people.
And then as things start to...
He realizes that he's amongst innocence
and people that don't have any experience out there.
I think we got lucky that the gates were open.
We got walkers.
I had a zombie shower at the end
when I blew his brains out.
(audience laughs)
And then of course when Pete came in,
he slashes Reg,
and I shot him.
- [Chris] Yeah, but it wasn't just that you shot him.
That was Deanna--
- It was an execution.
- [Chris] Acknowledging that you were right.
- [Scott] She did say do it.
- Yeah, I was gonna do it anyway.
- [Scott] Well, that just means you guys were simpatico.
- Yeah, that's true.
- [Chris] Yeah, but that's the struggle
between the whole time is you have this insulated community
that things can still be the way they were
before the apocalypse,
because they're clearly lying to themselves.
They're weak, they're not trained,
they don't understand what the world is like.
You guys come in and effectively
sort of pollute them for the better,
but you have to show them that this is how
things have to be now.
- I agree, and I think certainly a lot of the things
that seems to be we're exploring this season
are about them and us.
Inside the community and outside as well.
- [Gale] And then you have the wild card
of Morgan returning just at that moment.
- Yeah.
- [Gale] And what he's seeing.
A very different Rick from the last time.
- And a different Morgan as well.
- [Chris] And a Morgan we don't really know at this point.
We don't really know what he's up to
and what's going on and how he's been changed.
- But he's damn good at fighting with that stick.
- [Chris] This is for Danai.
This is from Aisha Grimes on Instagram.
What do you think Michonne's opinion is
on Carol's housewife disguise
and her lying about stealing guns in Alexandria?
- Ah, such a good question.
I've always yearned for more interaction
between Michonne and Carol.
(audience cheers)
I share it with 7,000 people
and my boss at the same time,
cause I adore Carol.
I think it's such an interesting thing between these two,
and I think they're two tactics of how to handle this world
is just so interesting.
They're both having tactics,
but they couldn't be more different.
I think she really is just catching up with where Carol is,
and she has a profound respect for Carol,
so she understands that what Carol's doing
is for the good of the group,
and it's definitely about protection.
It's definitely about keeping us on top
and keeping us safe.
But it's just not the way that Michonne wants
to grapple with things at this moment.
She's looking to actually merge community.
But she's not gonna get
into a big tussle with her like she didn't in that scene.
She just acknowledged that's where she was at,
and she was really getting the landscape where everyone was.
I'd love to hear them converse about their
different ways of seeing the world.
- [Chris] So this is sort of a two part question.
What do you think Michonne's journey was in the last season,
and especially that last thing
with her and the katana, like sort of embracing that again.
Where do you think she ends up?
- Yeah, yeah, I mean it was really fascinating, actually,
because she had made that decision
at season four where she literally decided
I'm actually going to stop being this isolated character
that goes off by herself, grabs two pets,
and will go and venture into the world and be alone
and hang out with walkers for the rest of my life
and not be vulnerable to anybody.
And making that decision to turn around and say
I'm gonna reembrace my people,
and I'm gonna reembrace whoever I can
and actually move forward with life.
And that's scary, and I have no idea what will happen,
but I'm gonna do it.
That is kind of where she's been going.
She's been consistently kind of going on that track,
and so the idea of reconnecting with these people,
which was kind of a miracle for her,
and really affirmed her choice.
But then throughout last season it was this sort of fear
of we were just kind of getting broken down.
Like the Terminus people, so that trust was obliterated.
And then it's like going into the idea of going into
what happened to Bob, and it was just constant
like what happened to the church.
Like it was just the constant breaking down,
and then she started to see people like Glenn
start to get broken down,
and how his sight just started to shift and stuff like that.
And the idea that we could actually get to the point where
things could get like we've actually all turned into
where she's been was very scary for her.
- [Chris] Yeah, it's interesting because it just shows
the importance of this group of people,
cause there's always this sort of
sign wave of sanity where it's like,
oh, Gabriel's not doing so great.
Sasha's losing it.
Rick's...I'm not sure.
Okay, Michonne's good.
Carol's good.
Ah, she just threatened to murder a kid.
You know, like so it's sort of like
you guys kind of need each other.
- Right, to balance it out.
- [Chris] To really keep a balance, and I feel like Michonne
was a very, she was a very calm
presence throughout,
and almost sort of resigned at the end of like,
"Ah, shit, here we go again."
- Well yeah, there was this crazy thing from like
the moment of actually saying
that I'm gonna neutralize Rick,
which to me was like this really like
disturbing moment to play.
I was like, oh dang, I gotta punch Rick?
Strangely, we had a good time with it, right Andy?
- [Andrew] Yeah. (Chris laughs)
- But it was such a weird moment to have to do,
but it was like that breaking apart
of saying I think differently from you,
and I'm gonna do something different from what you do.
- [Andrew] You did hit me.
- Oh yeah, well, you know that was the best take.
- [Andrew] For real, yeah.
- [Chris] Oh, she hit you for real?
- [Andrew] For real.
- [Chris] Oh, that's great!
- [Andrew] And she jumped on me after they said cut
and just cuddled with me.
- I felt bad.
- [Chris] That's good acting.
What are you talking about?
- I thought I really knocked him out.
But at the end of it when we actually,
picking up that sword again,
that was when you realize okay,
I have got to balance this out,
because there's no way I can put my weapon up there
and walk away from my power
when other people pick it up and use it for bad.
I trust myself to use it for good.
- [Chris] Oh, that's interesting.
So it wasn't for you.
It wasn't even so much like a battle weapon.
It's like a protection from other people.
I had never even considered that.
- It is a protective force if I'm using it.
But if some other dude, porch dick, picks it up...
(Chris laughs)
- [Chris] Well, he's not gonna be picking anything up
at this point except his brains off the sidewalk.
But I hope everyone's caught up, by the way.
That was a huge spoiler.
(audience laughs)
If you're not, you shouldn't be in here.
Also, it happened months ago.
Watch TV faster.
(audience laughs)
- [Scott] And Chris, let me just take this moment
just to tell the audience that I was completely lying
about the flashback question earlier.
There will actually be a whole lot of flashbacks.
- [Chris] Really?
- [Scott] The first half of the season.
In fact, I'm working on an episode right now
that's entirely a flashback,
but I just forget things in front of 7,000 people.
- [Chris] All right, so I don't know
if this version is the truth,
or the previous version's the truth,
or is that supposed to throw us off?
- [Scott] It's the truth.
- [Chris] You're a web of lies, Scott Gimple.
- [Scott] I'm incepting.
- [Chris] Stop it, here's comes the kick!
All right, this is for Steven.
This is Furious Beast on Instagram.
I'm gonna paraphrase this question,
because I really want to know this.
Why didn't you kill Nicholas?
I want you to kill that guy so bad.
(audience laughs)
I want you to kill that guy so bad.
And he totally deserved it.
Time and time again he was almost saying,
"Please kill me.
"I'm a complete douche bag.
"I wanna die."
And at the end,
you somehow found some humanity and mercy.
Why did you not kill him really hard?
- He's got beautiful eyes.
(Chris and audience laughs)
- [Chris] I never even thought about that.
- Listen to his soul.
Goodness, you know, Glenn is a better person than me.
I also said why did you not kill him?
But it's a very complex situation.
It's layered in the sense that it's
Glenn is seeing a version of himself in him.
Glenn also realizes what it means to cross that threshold.
Glenn also sees
in that moment that he has won.
That he has...
It serves no function in that moment to kill him.
It's not like he's making him an example for others.
It serves no function to kill him except for himself.
And if he crosses that threshold,
I think he looked into his face and saw
an earlier version of himself,
another iteration of himself
if he were to live within these walls,
and he saw what he could have been.
And for him it was a chance at
hopefully having him be redeemed,
but at the same time I think it was
mostly Glenn trying to
save himself as well.
Cause if he crosses that line,
it's kind of game over for him.
His MO at this point is he found a place
where him and his wife can be there.
Can live there.
Can search for the life that they've always wanted.
Part of that also includes humanity.
It includes living the life that they previously had,
which is not some wild, wild west
where if someone crosses you the wrong way you kill them.
Granted, he shot him in the shoulder, but
(audience laughs softly)
like I said, Glenn is a really good person.
(everyone laughs)
- [Greg] Then he stuck his finger in the bullet hole
and then beat you up.
- Yeah.
- [Greg] And let four walkers fall on top of you.
- [Chris] And then the other people at the warehouse.
- Then he wore his shoes in the house.
He wore the shoes in the house,
and he's just rude.
- [Chris] He double-dipped.
You guys were at that cocktail party,
and he double-dipped in the--
- Yeah, and he double-dipped.
- [Chris] Yeah, and took a bite
and then went back in the salsa.
You should've killed him for that.
- He's the one at revolving doors,
he doesn't push forward.
He doesn't push the revolving doors forward.
It is a complex situation, but ultimately I think
Glenn was trying to save any part
of the old world that he could.
And that includes his own humanity.
- [Chris] Does Maggie keep him tethered to that world?
- I think they both have that together.
By the way, Lauren couldn't be here,
and she loves all you guys.
And she couldn't be here cause she's visiting family,
but know that she loves every single one of you.
(audience cheers and applauds)
Yeah, I absolutely do feel like Glenn and Maggie
keep each other grounded.
They have a very symbiotic relationship,
and they overlap on many things.
And one of those things is to preserve
what semblance of sanity and humanity that they have
so that they can be together
in a safe and new world.
Together.
- [Chris] This next question is for Lennie James.
(audience cheers)
Yes.
Lennie James, first time with
The Walking Dead cast on a panel.
(audience cheers and applauds)
And I have to say the thing that was so wonderful
about your character and seeing him come back
is from all the seasons, people would always say,
"What happened to Morgan?"
When you were just a sliver in the beginning,
and people always said, "Where's Morgan?"
And I think in our heads as fans we were like
he's out there somewhere.
And then we saw you in "Clear,"
and you were like he is not doing well.
(audience laughs)
But it definitely showed a dimension,
or at least maybe even a little bit of foreshadowing
about what can happen, particularly for Rick.
So what do you think
he was doing this whole time out there?
- What do I think Morgan was doing this whole time?
He was painting.
(Chris laughs)
He was getting to know himself.
Well, we may find out this season
what Morgan's been doing with himself.
One of the things he's been doing is trying to find Rick,
and at the end of the last season he finds him,
and kind of wished that he hadn't.
Yeah, I think we're gonna find out where, possibly,
where Morgan's been and what he's been up to.
- [Chris] This is from Allison Loveland on Facebook.
What kind of effect do you think Morgan's presence
will have on Rick?
- I don't know, to be honest.
I think Morgan and Rick have a particular kind of man-love
that kind of goes on.
(audience laughs)
- [Chris] Keep going.
(audience laughs and yells out)
- I think the fact that Morgan has gone to find Rick.
I've said it before, but it's one of the things
that's most important is Rick is the last person
left on the planet that Morgan...
That knows Morgan.
Everybody else who Morgan knows is gone.
And the only man, the only person left,
that Morgan knows is Rick,
and that's why he goes to find him.
And I think Morgan's aware of the effect
that Rick has had on him.
I don't know now, because they meet at such a kind of
important moment at the end of the last season.
And this season there's gonna be fallout.
- [Chris] This next question's for Chandler Riggs.
Mr. Chandler Riggs, welcome.
(audience cheers and applauds)
This is from brandonreese1 on Twitter.
Do you think Carl feels at home in Alexandria?
- Oh, for sure, yeah.
I think Carl, I think he sees Alexandria as
a restart button kind of just to try and start over
and live the life
the way life should be lived.
And that's how he sees Alexandria.
- [Chris] I love just that moment with the other kids there.
There's like video games, and you're like,
"What have you people been doing this whole time?"
You have even just in your short time in that world,
you're already a soldier, basically.
So how do you think he's processing?
How do you think he was able to process
like oh, it's okay to be comfortable again?
- Well, I mean, that's when he kind of went into shock
when he walked into that room,
and it was just like,
like it was years ago.
Back when the apocalypse started.
And I think for him,
first of all he sees their vulnerability,
and although Alexandria is a safe place,
people still need to know how to survive
in case there is a threat outside the walls.
- [Chris] (mumbles).
- He sees their vulnerability.
Sorry.
- [Chris] Oh no, go ahead.
This is about you, not me, you go.
- But I mean he does have sympathy for the kids
living in Alexandria and he wants to show them
how life is outside the walls.
- [Chris] This is from @AshActually.
How do you think Michonne would feel
about Carl sneaking out of the gates following Enid?
- Oh, yeah.
(Chris laughs)
- I don't know.
- Who are you asking?
- [Chris] Either of you.
Actually, I'd love to hear you both tackle that.
- Okay, you can go ahead.
(audience laughs)
- Well, okay, so I think
Carl sees Enid as another survivor.
She is the one person in that place that gets it.
That gets how it is outside the walls.
And so he can obviously relate to her,
and that's why he enjoys going outside the walls
and just hanging out with her.
But obviously,
being outside of Alexandria isn't very safe.
So I don't know how they'd react
if they knew Carl was running around with Enid in the woods.
What do you think? - [Danai] Yeah.
It's probably better Michonne doesn't know.
- Yeah (laughs).
- The thing that Michonne really loves about Carl
is that he has such a survivor instinct,
and he's so smart and he knows
how to take care of himself so well.
And so she was always just able to kind of relate to him
like a friend, which I mean the idea of him
going outside there is like you can't imprison him
in one sense, like you can't say
you may never leave these walls.
I think she would find that to be
a disrespectful way of treating him.
But at the same time, her gut, her instinct,
her wants for him, of course, are to keep him
extremely safe at all times, so she wouldn't,
she probably just doesn't want to know,
but she'd want to know at the same time.
- [Chris] Well, they're also just teenagers.
It doesn't matter.
If you're a teenage boy and there's a teenage girl,
even if you're like, "Oh, my God,
"there's zombies at the gate,"
and a teenage girl's like, "Let's go out there."
You'd be like, "Yeah, okay."
Like there's no...
(audience laughs)
It's like this whole concept of you're still human beings.
You still do things that human beings do.
This is just a really quick answer for this one, Chandler,
and @hyattsmaurice wants to know if season five Carl
had a chance to tell season one Carl some advice,
what would it be?
- Ooh.
I don't know, really.
I think just, I don't know.
I'm not really sure what he would tell him.
- [Greg] Go kill the walker in the swamp that killed Dale.
(everybody laughs)
- And shoot the one--
- [Greg] Shoot the one walker that he should have shot.
- Yeah.
- [Chris] Way to make him feel bad about that.
(everybody laughs)
This is for Sonequa Martin-Green.
This is from Twitter.
(audience cheers)
After Sasha's breakdown last season,
which you portrayed amazingly, she says, parenthetically.
What do you hope she finds in season six?
- Oh my.
Healing, restoration.
- [Chris] Can she at this point?
- That's a great question.
I mean she's hit rock bottom.
It's been an honor for me to portray PTSD
in honor of those who have suffered from it.
And that's what you hope.
You hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
You hope that you can cross over to the other side
and find a reason to live again.
And not just live but thrive.
And so that's what I'm hoping
that she finds is a way to respond
correctly to the deaths of her most loved ones,
because looking back on it,
if she were to get to that place,
that healed place,
she would look back and see that
I didn't respond correctly.
I have not been the woman that
my brother really knew and loved
and insisted that I still was.
I have not been the woman that Bob fell in love with.
I haven't been the woman that even
our father raised me to be.
And so now it's time to actually
pay homage to their lives and their memories
and live with hope the way they would have wanted me to
and the way that they did.
- [Chris] This next question's for Melissa McBride.
(audience applauds and cheers)
From @helloSydney on Twitter.
What is Carol's biggest challenge in hiding who she is,
slash, what she is capable of from the Alexandrians?
- What's the biggest challenge between?
- [Chris] Between being able to basically
concealing your identity,
because Carol was amazing.
I mean the chameleon transformation
to just immediately like
just an innocent house mom in a sweater.
It was instantaneous.
She saw the situation.
She assessed who she needed to be in that situation,
and she adapted like that.
So what was the biggest challenge do you think for her
in maintaining that persona?
- I think just like having her cover for them.
She had really important work to do
finding out who these people are
and what they're capable of,
what they're not capable of.
I think really just the biggest challenge was,
was keeping her cover.
Yeah.
- [Chris] This is from @DCandDPS.
We didn't get to see Carol react to Tyreese's death.
What did it mean to her?
Does she miss him despite everything?
- There's an echo, I'm sorry.
We need to see Carol react to?
- [Chris] She said we didn't get to see Carol
react to Tyreese's death.
So what did that mean to her,
and does she miss him?
- Yes, she misses him.
Every death is heartbreaking,
and it just fuels the fire even more to
become stronger, fight harder,
to keep everybody safe, including yourself.
Everything is fueled by the loss of people.
That's why she's doing what she's doing.
She can't stand around and watch people die.
And she's ready to pay the price,
go to hell, whatever.
She doesn't know.
She knows to do whatever she can to try to help people.
- [Chris] Is that what keeps her going?
The need to help people?
- Yeah, I mean she's not a cold-blooded killer,
and she just wants to keep going so she can
come face-to-face with somebody else she can put down.
(Chris laughs)
That's what I'll do tomorrow.
Maybe we'll intersect somebody and I can...
Yeah, no.
- [Michael Cudlitz] Take 'em down.
- [Chris] This is for Michael Cudlitz.
(audience applauds and cheers)
This is from...
This is an amazing Twitter name:
@heydonuts.
(audience laughs)
When do you believe your character's defining moment was?
- Hmmm, that's a great question.
I think his defining moment is yet to come.
(audience moans)
- [Chris] Ugh, says the crowd.
- I might agree.
(Chris laughs)
- Thank you, goodnight.
(Chris and audience laughs)
I just want to live in a world where Carol bakes cookies
and gives flowers to everyone.
- [Chris] This is from @mcbrideTWD.
Cudlitz, what do you admire most about Abraham?
What's your favorite quality?
- I think just his pure honesty.
It just is what it is.
There's no filter.
There's no agenda.
There's nothing
going on behind the scenes.
It's kind of what you see is what you get,
and if you don't like it,
that's too fucking bad.
- [Chris] Nice.
(audience cheers)
- [Greg] He does get the best written dialogue
on the show, for sure.
Every time you get the scripts and you see
things that Abraham says they're always great.
The line you had in 16 was like,
"He don't know shit about shit about..."
I only can remember the line cause he said it so well.
I had it recorded for awhile.
- Something about sand.
- [Greg] It was great.
He has the best dialogue.
- [Scott] I just like hearing you guys kind of...
It was shit and it had to do with sand.
- [Greg] Sand, shit.
- [Scott] There's a vast ocean of shit
that you people don't know shit about.
- [Greg & Michael] Rick knows every fine grain of said shit.
(audience cheers)
- Who's Deanna?
- [Chris] Yeah, oh my God!
Amazing!
- [Scott] And that's all Michael there.
Who's Deanna?
We were not rolling around the writer's room with that.
That's Michael taking two words
and making them into an epic film.
- [Greg] That was partially my fault,
because when he said it,
it was so quiet in that scene.
And he said it so loudly that we all kind of laughed.
He was like some drunk guy in the back.
(in a gruffy voice) "Who's Deanna?"
- Now that happens when there's 17 actors on set.
There's a scene going on.
They put you way, way, way in the back,
and you have to deliver the line.
- [Greg] You weren't that far in the back.
- Woosh.
- [Chris] You could've cut that into the last shot
of the season finale.
It's like blam!
And then just cut to Cudlitz, "Who's Deanna?"
Just one last time.
This is for Norman Reedus down there at the end.
(audience applauds and cheers)
This is from @jennyaggio.
Is there anything special that you do
to get into character for Daryl?
- A lot of Motorhead.
(Chris laughs)
A lot of coffee.
I play Candy Crush a lot.
(audience laughs)
- [Chris] I actually do believe that Daryl
would enjoy Candy Crush.
- I'm so into it it's ridiculous.
And I spend hundreds of dollars.
I don't even give a shit.
(Chris and audience laughs)
- [Chris] Well, after you just said that now,
if they don't send you stuff they're assholes.
- No, no, no, thank you, yeah.
If you guys send me lives on that I'd play forever.
It's great.
- [Chris] And then the second part to that question
Jenny wants to know what's your favorite emoji?
(audience laughs)
- I like the red balloon.
- [Chris] (laughs) I knew it would be a good answer.
I knew it!
- Is that my cool fucking questions right now?
(everybody laughs)
Everybody has these deep questions,
and I have Candy Crush and emojis.
- [Chris] Oh, you know,
I wanted to throw you the hard bones.
(people laughing)
Okay, you know, I do.
Right before we go to the audience questions,
we'll have time for the audience questions,
I do have one serious question for you
from @ImmortalDixon on Twitter.
Which is the darkest season for Daryl
in terms of his sanity and morals?
- I didn't even hear that.
- [Chris] Goddamn it.
- [Man] That was too tough.
- [Chris] Which is the darkest season for Daryl
in terms of his sanity and his morals?
- Of six seasons? - [Chris] Yeah.
- Oh geez.
- [Greg] You asked for it.
- [Chris] Yeah.
- [Scott] We could do more emoji questions.
- I'm better at those.
It changes all the time.
The first one I kind of found the character
in the first scene that I was on,
and then I started to trust these people
when Rick says I'll go with you to find your brother,
and I was like okay.
And then that took awhile.
And I remember putting the little hand
in Steven's handbag.
That was fun.
But it all changes, and where we ended up last year
when Morgan comes back with us,
and Rick's shooting that dude in the head,
we had that scene just before that where
it was Carol and Rick and I and they said,
if this town can't bend a little bit
we're just gonna take it.
So I was thinking in Daryl's head when he comes back
and he's shooting him in the head,
like oh it's on, let's take the town.
So there's a little bit of darkness all over the place
that pops up all the time.
- [Chris] (laughs) That just needs a red balloon emoji
to brighten the day.
- Yeah, and some Candy Crush lives.
- [Chris] I swear to God if Daryl came into the scene
and be like, "Hey you all, maybe we should just play
"some Candy Crush."
That would be...
- [Man] They don't have that yet in their world, but--
- [Greg] Hey, Chris.
So Lauren Cohen just sent me a text
that she wants me to read to everybody.
- [Chris] Please.
- It says, "Dear Greg.
"You're the greatest prod..."
Wait, no, no.
"Thanks so much for reading this note out loud.
"Now can you please pass it to Steven to read?"
- [Chris] Awww.
- Oh, for real?
Okay.
(everybody laughs)
- [Greg] She's very, very funny, by the way.
- Cheeky.
She wrote, "Steve says this.
"I miss not being there with you all at our sixth Comic Con.
"I'm with my family right now,
"but my other family is at this table and in this room.
- [Audience] Awww.
"You may have already said this today,
"but everyone in here is who makes this show
"and inspires us to new walker kill,
"emotional roller coaster, fighting for life,
"and love heights every season.
"And we thank you and love you so much.
"I hope you all have a freaking incredible weekend.
"Can you say something funny at the end?"
(everybody laughs)
- [Greg] And then it says,
"Then please give the phone back to Greg."
- I didn't read that part.
- [Chris] You actually did bring something
to show people that was a little extra, didn't you?
- I did?
- [Scott] Well, it seems like we're having
a blooper right now here, Greg.
- We are?
- [Scott] Yeah, so what could it be?
That we're having a real blooper about?
- Oh, maybe there's clips of people
that didn't get their lines right or broke character?
- [Scott] Exactly, well, sort of.
(audience cheers)
- Every year at the wrap party,
even episodes that I'm directing,
when characters do something funny.
The show's always so serious,
so anytime we have an opportunity
to do something a little light,
I always tell Amy Lacy, the script supervisor,
like mark that as a blooper,
and then at the end of the season, at the wrap party,
we screen the blooper reel for everyone.
It's really just a great emotional release,
to laugh with our characters and see them do fun things.
So we have something to show you guys.
- [Chris] Great, roll the blooper reel!
(audience applauds and cheers)
Hey Mike, what's happening?
- [Mike] Ohhh!
Dude, can you give a big hand for Mike.
I saw him 8:00 in the evening
first spot in Hall H camped out there.
(everyone applauds and cheers)
What is your question?
- [Mike] Well, it's a short little one,
and then one for the cast.
Melissa, I can smell those cookies all the way from here.
- [Melissa] Right?
- [Mike] And also, I wanted--
- That sounded disgusting.
- [Mike] Okay, well, the cookies are right there.
Anyway, so I want to ask you guys
what are you more afraid of?
The mega herd or the wolves?
I want to ask the cast.
- Well, I don't know if we have time to get everyone,
but just a couple people.
Are you more afraid of the wolves or a mega herd?
- I'm not particularly afraid of anybody at the moment.
- [Chris] I guess that's true.
(audience cheers)
Steven?
- They should be afraid of us.
- [Chris] Yeah?
(audience cheers)
Said very authoritatively.
I think they should be afraid of us.
- They should be concerned for us.
(Chris laughs)
- [Chris] They should be mildly upset.
What do you think, Abraham?
Wolves or mega herd?
- Bring it. - [Chris] Uh, oh.
- Wolves can hide.
- [Chris] Yeah, that's true,
I mean wolves are,
they're sentient beings,
like they can hunt and stuff,
and walkers just, "Rah," you know.
- I think I'm more concerned
with the living than the dead.
- [Chris] Yeah, awesome.
Hey, good to see you buddy.
I'll see you later on.
What is your name, Madam?
- [Woman] My name is Vivianna.
I just wanted to ask Chandler
what did it feel like being back on set?
Did you feel nervous at all, or excited?
- Well, I think we were all pretty excited
to come back on the show for the new season.
It's great to be back.
when I'm on the show for most of my life.
(everybody laughs)
- [Chris] It's a literal thing!
- It's all I've known for awhile.
But no, it's fun.
I love this show, I really do.
- [Chris] Excellent.
(audience cheers)
Hey man, what's your name?
- [Man] I'm Daniel.
I'm a big fan.
I wanted to ask who's gonna be the next
cast member from The Wire to make an appearance?
(everybody laughs)
- [Chris] Who's the next cast member from The Wire
who's gonna make an appearance?
- [Dave] It's a Robert question.
(Chris laughs)
- [Scott] I'll just say we've tried for...
I'm not gonna do a Robert impression.
We tried with someone this year,
and it actually didn't work out.
I'd say we weren't through with that cast yet.
(audience cheers)
- [Gale] We can talk about another cast.
- [Chris] Did you want to make that announcement?
Do you want to make this announcement right here?
- [Scott] Oh, yes, yes.
- So in addition to Corey Hawkins as Heath,
(audience applauds and cheers)
I don't know if anybody saw, but we have Ethan Embry,
which was in the trailer.
I'm really excited.
He plays in the first episode,
and we've cast Merritt Weaver
as a character from the comic,
but you'll have to wait to find out who.
- [Chris] All right, excellent.
- [Scott] Obviously, Merritt Weaver as needed.
- Yes, yes, obviously.
- [Chris] Yes, Ma'am, what is your name?
- [Woman] Goddamn.
(everybody laughs)
- [Chris] I didn't mean to startle you.
(everybody laughs)
- [Woman] My name is Jilian,
and I guess this is more directed to Andrew and Danai,
but I find Rick and Michonne's interactions fascinating,
and I wanted to know what is Michonne to Rick at present?
Cause it kind of seems like she's the only one
who can check him.
- That is very true.
I just want to say that my mum is desperate
for Rick and Michonne to get together.
(audience cheers)
If she was watching this now, she'd be very happy
that I'm saying this, because she goes,
"When, If you had any, political balls,
"you've got to get those two people together."
She gets quite fired up about it.
I'm not campaigning, Scott.
- [Scott] And I've received the calls from your mom.
(everybody laughs)
- But I agree.
Michonne is a fellow warrior.
He respects her so much.
And they've been through so much.
He trusts her with his life
and with his children's lives.
And so I think that yeah, like many of the characters now,
there are certain sort of planets,
there are five or six that he looks to
and he can be checked by.
And she is certainly one.
- I think for Michonne, he was actually the person
who checked her in the very beginning,
like in episode "Clear."
Even before then, when she was just kind of buck wild,
and she just fought the Governor
and he was going to kick her out.
That whole moment where she knew she had to change
was because he checked her.
And that caused an indelible respect
that I think just keeps reverberating
through their friendship.
- [Chris] Excellent.
Hey, Button Lady.
- [Button Lady] Hi, Chris.
(audience cheers) - [Chris] What's happening?
- [Button Lady] Aw, thanks for naming a horse after me.
My question is for Carl or Papa.
Chandler, not this last season, but the season before,
you had a very, very intense scene.
I was wondering if any of your cast members
gave you any advice for that?
If you had a closed set?
Because I don't know many young actors,
know of many young actors,
who could've done the scene that you did.
It was amazing.
Did you get any help,
and did you have to have a closed set?
- Was it the scene with--
- [Woman] With your dad sleeping.
- Okay.
I don't know.
I just say the lines and I do it.
(everybody laughs)
- We go to him for acting help.
We go to him.
He's the most mature man on the set right here.
- It's hard for those intense scenes like that.
I've had a lot of them throughout the years,
and it is hard doing those scenes.
I think we've all had pretty
intense scenes along those lines,
and it's just one of the things
that you just gotta get through.
And pull yourself through it.
- [Chris] All right, thank you, Button Lady.
Hi, what's your name?
- [Woman] Hi, my name is (mumbles).
- [Chris] And what's your question?
- [Woman] Well, there is an upcoming quick kiss
between two certain people
that was a little bit unexpected,
because everyone is expecting that certain girl
to kiss another certain guy.
But I just wanted to know
with that kind of an intense scene
how do you relieve the awkwardness
of a scene like that on set?
- [Man] Could you repeat the question a little vaguer?
(everybody laughs)
- [Chris] So there's a guy, and this guy's got a thing,
and then there's this girl and she's--
- Wait, what show is she talking about?
- [Chris] Game of Thrones.
- Game of Thrones, right.
(everybody laughs)
- Yeah, he's dead.
He's not coming back.
He's dead.
It happens on shows sometimes.
- [Chris] Let it go.
- Unless he comes back as a walker.
[Chris and Audience] Whoa!
(audience laughs)
- [Chris] Interesting.
Interesting.
- So you're asking what's it like to kiss somebody on set
and leave that on set?
- [Woman] No, I'm asking how do you relieve the awkwardness
of doing an intense scene?
- [Chris] Oh, how do you relieve the awkwardness
of doing an intense scene?
The kissing part was a red herring.
- Oh.
(audience laughs)
Wait, I'm so confused.
(audience laughs)
- [Chris] So the blooper reel I think was
pretty self-explanatory with that kind of thing,
because there was so many intense scenes,
but it seems like that there were moments
where they kind of break out of it a little bit,
because everyone seems to be
family, basically,
that it's kind of at some point it just sort of breaks out
and like oh, we're just sort of screwing around
with our friends and we're safe and we're laughing.
Even when Andy punches the wall,
he's like, "Oh, God, I'm sorry."
Those kind of moments I think
relieve the tension where everyone snaps back into reality
in a second if you guys have to get back into it.
I mean you would have to, or you all would go crazy.
- [Scott] And there aren't a lot of horror shows
that go on and on and on.
And this cast, the thing that blows me away is that
these guys live a horror movie every week,
and they've been doing that, some of them,
for six years,
and there's a bit of a psychological cost to that.
- And that's six months a year.
- [Scott] Yeah.
- [Chris] And hopefully we'll continue to do so
for many more years.
(audience cheers)
- [Scott] That is the plan.
- [Chris] I was just talking about it so I can keep working.
I don't know why you were--
- [Scott] And the psychological toll that Chris has.
- [Chris] You know what, there is a psychological
toll to my show, because I never realized
that I would be America's damn zombie therapist.
And like when your favorite character dies,
I'm the first stupid face you see,
and I'm then responsible.
It's like someone will die, and I'm like,
uh, shit, I didn't do it.
(everybody laughs)
- That's because you tell us,
"Come on, I mean, what do you got for me?
"I need some more drama for Talking Dead."
- [Chris] I haven't told everyone that everything's okay.
- [Scott] It is funny like finishing an edit
of something like really heavy,
and we go right to the end of the reel,
and you just picture Chris like stepping out (mumbles).
- [Chris] Hey, guys.
- [Scott] It's gonna be all right.
- [Chris] Welcome to The Talking Dead.
The hashtag is "hershelscrazystump" or something.
(audience laughs)
Everyone's like, "Shut up, you're ruining the show!"
- Wait, we have a Daryl.
- [Chris] Yo, Hey, Daryl.
Daryl Two, what is your question?
- [Man] Yeah! (audience applauds)
- [Man] Chris I just want to say
that you always do an amazing job.
My question is for my hero, Norman Reedus.
- [Norman] Yeah.
(audience cheers)
- Oh, thank you, Norman, that makes me feel great.
(audience laughs)
- [Sonequa] Yes!
(audience applauds)
- Put the camera back on him.
- [Man] You could always bring me up on stage, too.
That's cool.
(audience laughs)
- [Man] Turn around.
(audience laughs)
- [Sonequa] That's it.
- [Gale] Oh, nice!
- [Chris] Tweet at me, I'll send you that picture.
Okay, so what's your question?
- [Man] Question is for Normus.
What kind of character development
can we expect to see in season six for Daryl?
- First off, did you just call me enormous?
(audience laughs)
- [Man] I did.
Maybe that was a Freudian slip.
(audience laughs)
- You know what, the minute you stood up,
I knew I liked you.
Do you know I'm psychic?
(audience laughs)
- [Chris] Norman, you better send that guy a balloon emoji.
- You know what I'm sayin', yeah.
What level are you on in Candy Crush?
- [Man] I don't play, unfortunately.
Startin' on Monday.
- Yeah, before this weekend's over,
you and me, I'm gonna teach you some Candy Crush.
- [Man] Hell, yeah.
- So is this getting weird?
- [Chris] No, not at all.
(audience laughs)
So real quick.
Where's Daryl going, and then that'll be the last question.
- (whispers) Level 275.
(audience laughs)
The thing about Alexandria
is he didn't want to go there at all.
He doesn't like anything to do with suburbia,
I don't believe.
But he wanted out, and then he found a place
that they could handle him
and gave him a job,
and he sort of felt like he could fit in
and wanted to fit in and wanted to fight for it.
And that might go crazy later.
He's going up and down all the time,
and I think he sort of finds
his safe place with these people.
So it gets tested quite a bit.
Hey, what's that walking by back there?
Hey, hey!
Yeah, all right, cool.
- [Chris] So just two more quick pieces of,
two more quick pieces of business.
- I'm like starting to freak out when there's some
Daryl's walking next to each other.
(Chris laughs)
- Two more pieces of business before we wrap this up,
because we have another panel to do.
First of all, Greg, I'm told that you brought
a couple of exclusive pictures that you wanted to show.
- I've brought some walker pictures.
Some of the stats.
In the first episode of season six,
we did more walkers than we've done in any episode ever.
So a couple of these guys we got a little more rotted.
We have one zombie who's nicknamed
the Bernie Wrightson zombie,
so you probably get a sense of in Comic Con
who Bernie Wrightson is.
But these are a couple other characters
that we've done, and again,
sort of going for way more rot every year.
We get more and more decomposition on these guys,
but first episode, we had one day
where we had 300 walkers.
- [Chris] Greg directed the premiere episode
coming back by the way,
which is important for you guys to know.
(audience applauds and cheers)
Which again is 90 minutes, October 11th.
- And a lot of people don't realize
that the season finale last year
was supposed to be a 60 minute episode,
but Scott wrote the script.
The script was so well-written.
Again, each premiere sort of launches our characters
into their stories and then we wrap them up in the finale.
So last year's season finale
where we were cutting it together,
we needed to wrap those stories up
so it ended up being an hour and a half.
So now of course, Scott and I went to breakfast.
He's like, "So remember we did so well
"with that hour and a half of finale.
"What do you think about doing
"an hour and a half season premiere?"
So we have a supersized episode right out of the gate.
- [Chris] Excellent.
(audience applauds and cheers)
Do you want to make an announcement
about the international community?
- Yes.
First of all, as Scott and Chris have said,
this really is our year to celebrate the fan.
And we are also celebrating international fans,
and as per usual, our partners
at Fox International Channels
will be premiering it in 125 countries,
250 million households,
within 24 hours of its U.S. premiere.
So for all of you who aren't here,
but have traveled a long way,
you will get all these fantastic episodes
really soon after you've seen them here.
- [Chris] Excellent.
So you guys, thank you so much
for coming out to The Walking Dead panel.
The Fear the Walking Dead panel
is gonna be in a couple minutes.
I'll be back after this.
Huge hand for the entire Walking Dead cast and producers!
(audience applauds and cheers)
Sunday, October 11th.
We'll see you there.
And then if you guys want,
as they're walking out,
I can show you the trailer one more time,
if you want to see the season six trailer one more time.
All right, everyone, Walking Dead!
Huge hand!
(audience applauds and cheers)
And as everyone's walking off,
let's show the season six trailer one more time,
and I'll see you in a couple of minutes
for Fear the Walking Dead in just a few minutes.
All right.
(audience cheers)